Handel: Tamerlano

“At 68, the great singer/actor’s voice still juts above the crowd — burnished, velvety and hugely expressive, if less so than in previous years. His heroic, flawed Bajazet dominates, although his Baroque style is idiosyncratic to say the least, and his first aria, Forte e lieto, somewhat wayward. If his technique doesn’t always match the cast’s Baroque specialists, his dramatic weight is ideal for Handel’s wonderfully dramatic, unusually dark masterpiece. Tamerlano’s four-hour length is buoyed by the vigour with which Paul McCreesh conducts the meaty, non-Baroque house orchestra of the Teatro Real...and the fluid, informally stylised dramatic treatment of the director Graham Vick. There’s not a duff voice on stage, with Monica Bacelli notable as a rather eccentric Tamerlano sparring with Sara Mingardo’s excellent Andronico. Richard Hudson’s stunning Baroque-Islamic set, dominated by a large foot planted on a suspended globe — less Monty Python than it might appear — dazzles with restrained splashes of colour, crowned by the entry of Tamerlano’s betrothed, Irene, on a huge blue elephant.”” The Times, 27th February 2009 ****

“The grandly tragic figure of the enslaved Turkish sultan Bajazet… is a recent departure for Plácido Domingo, and one that could be supposed to lie outside his comfort zone. So it says much for his artistry and intelligence that he makes such a significant success of it in this filming of Graham Vick's 2008 Madrid production. ...the opera is one of Handel's greatest, reaching a powerful climax in Bajazet's suicide scene. Here Domingo, even with his now diminished vocal resources, puts some of his Baroque specialist colleagues to shame with the psychological penetration of his performance. In Richard Hudson's generally handsome and relatively spare semi-abstract designs the show looks good... Paul McCreesh gets decent playing from the non-period Madrid musicians.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 ****

“This is an uncommonly interesting examination of how a great Handel opera may be performed without insisting that only Baroque specialists need apply. Some of the singers here aren't obvious Handelians: Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz has something of the attack and occasionally the cutting edge of a lyricdramatic soprano, while Thomas Randle quite often puts his voice under pressure in response to the extreme demands of Handel's first and most intensely dramatic major tenor role. And yet one hardly ever wishes for more 'authentic' voices. Both singers are very musical, well aware of the requirements of Handel's style; both, especially Randle, are highly accomplished actors – it's a minor but significant point that when either of them was on screen I neither watched nor needed the subtitles.
Both, not wholly irrelevantly, are strikingly handsome.
That they can be so effective is largely due to Jonathan Miller's very plain but highly intelligent production, to Trevor Pinnock's alert and sympathetic direction and to the wonderfully intimate theatre at Bad Lauchstadt where the opera was filmed as part of the 50th Halle Handel Festival in 2001. The set is basic – a few mottled gold panels – the costumes are sumptuous, but in a theatre this size everyone in the audience can see facial expressions and the slightest gestures, and Miller has concentrated his direction on this. The result, at such a moment as when Bajazet and his daughter Asteria resolve on suicide rather than further humiliation by Tamerlano is intensely moving, as is the exquisite duet in which Asteria and her lover Andronico vow that their love will even survive her death.
Handelian voices or no, it is in short an utterly Handelian performance. The orchestra is splendid and Pinnock's pacing of the drama ideal.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is an instance where the DVD...is greatly preferable to the CDs, with solo voices anturally caught and strongly projected against the beautifully recorded and balanced orchestra...It is a strong team of soloists...Thomas Randle gives a vigorously resonant account of the role of Bajazet...The DVD is strongly documented and includes a 'read the score' facility” Penguin Guide, 2010 ****

“This is an instance where the DVD...is greatly preferable to the CDs, with solo voices anturally caught and strongly projected against the beautifully recorded and balanced orchestra...It is a strong team of soloists...Thomas Randle gives a vigorously resonant account of the role of Bajazet...The DVD is strongly documented and includes a 'read the score' facility” Penguin Guide, 2010 ****

“The grandly tragic figure of the enslaved Turkish sultan Bajazet… is a recent departure for Plácido Domingo, and one that could be supposed to lie outside his comfort zone. So it says much for his artistry and intelligence that he makes such a significant success of it in this filming of Graham Vick's 2008 Madrid production. ...the opera is one of Handel's greatest, reaching a powerful climax in Bajazet's suicide scene. Here Domingo, even with his now diminished vocal resources, puts some of his Baroque specialist colleagues to shame with the psychological penetration of his performance. In Richard Hudson's generally handsome and relatively spare semi-abstract designs the show looks good... Paul McCreesh gets decent playing from the non-period Madrid musicians...” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 ****

“At 68, the great singer/actor’s voice still juts above the crowd — burnished, velvety and hugely expressive, if less so than in previous years. His heroic, flawed Bajazet dominates, although his Baroque style is idiosyncratic to say the least, and his first aria, Forte e lieto, somewhat wayward. If his technique doesn’t always match the cast’s Baroque specialists, his dramatic weight is ideal for Handel’s wonderfully dramatic, unusually dark masterpiece. Tamerlano’s four-hour length is buoyed by the vigour with which Paul McCreesh conducts the meaty, non-Baroque house orchestra of the Teatro Real...and the fluid, informally stylised dramatic treatment of the director Graham Vick. There’s not a duff voice on stage, with Monica Bacelli notable as a rather eccentric Tamerlano sparring with Sara Mingardo’s excellent Andronico. Richard Hudson’s stunning Baroque-Islamic set, dominated by a large foot planted on a suspended globe — less Monty Python than it might appear — dazzles with restrained splashes of colour, crowned by the entry of Tamerlano’s betrothed, Irene, on a huge blue elephant.” The Times, 27th February 2009 ****